Already assured of a spot in the NAIA Division II national tournament, top-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan College won 93-77 in its 8:30 a.m. game against Truett-McConnell in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament Thursday at Kingsport, Tenn.
The Bulldogs (28-2) had the AAC player of the year in Leland Robinson, the coach of the year in Mike Poe and Trey Suttles from Chattanooga joining Robinson on the All-AAC first team along with Bryan senior Brandon Cole from Crossville.
TWC’s Devante’ Jenkins and Charles White and Bryan’s Oteriah Lee were second-team selections, Jenkins and White made the five-man all-defensive team and TWC’s Tre Tiller was voted to the all-freshman team. Cole and Wesleyan’s Wesley Richey represented their schools on the Champions of Character team. Cole, the league’s scoring leader (29.4 ppg) and the Lions’ all-time top scorer and rebounder, finished his career with 31 points and 13 rebounds in an 84-80 tournament loss Thursday to No. 3 seed Reinhardt, leaving the former Stone Memorial High School star at 2,799 and 1,235 for his four years. Lee, the AAC assists leader at 5.7 per game, had six assists with 14 points and Tyler Yoder made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for Bryan (13-15), while Josh Cooper and Justin Zachary had 21 and 21 points for Reinhardt (17-13).
TWC had six double-figure scorers Thursday, led by Suttles with 16 points, Tiller and Ikeem Bergeron with 15 each and White with 14. White and Tiller also had six assists each. Robinson, who had 10 points and seven rebounds, averaged 21.4 and 8.2 for the season, while Suttles averaged 17.2 points and Jenkins averaged 15.7 plus 8.3 rebounds. All-AAC second-teamer Andretti Loyd had 25 points Thursday for Truett-McConnell.
‘ Bryan’s Megan Billingsby and Amber Levi (from Rhea County), Tennessee Wesleyan’s Jara Gasper from Cleveland State and Truett-McConnell’s Rhande Haskett from Ridgeland High School made the All-AAC women’s first team for 2015-16, and Bryan’s Keila Formont and Cheyenne Shaver and TWC’s Melanie Barker and Hunter Simpson were second-team selections, Formont as the AAC assists leader.
Levi, Shaver and Simpson were all-freshman honorees, Haskett and Reinhardt’s Jada Hubbard from Heritage High were all-defensive and Gasper, Bryan’s Maebry McNeese and Truett’s Monica Hammond from Bradley Central were Champions of Character choices.
After top-seeded Milligan lost 82-75 to ninth seed Montreat on Thursday, co-champion Bryan reached the semifinals with a 74-50 win over Columbia as Levi scored 18 points, Billingsby had 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Tonesha Allison and Erisha Talley grabbed 15 and 11 rebounds. The Lady Lions (26-4) were expecting to face Wesleyan tonight, as the third-seeded Lady Bulldogs played 3-24 St. Andrews in Thursday’s late game.
‘ Led by Berto Dryden with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double, the second-seeded Covenant College men’s basketball team advanced to the USA South tournament semifinals in Rocky Mount, N.C., with an 87-80 victory Thursday against William Peace. Covenant (16-9), which faces third seed Greensboro at 5 p.m. today, survived 2-for-13 shooting from first-team all-conference pick TJ Cox as he had six assists, Connor Sears had 15 points and nine rebounds and Patjo Twagirayezu tallied 10 points.
Dryden was 4-for-8 on 3-point shots and hit 10 of 12 free throws.
‘ The Lee University basketball teams lost their regular-season finales Thursday at Shorter, 57-46 in the women’s game and 79-73 in the men’s.
Carrie Cheeks and Shelby Brown led the Lady Flames (19-9) with 13 and 10 points and nine and 11 rebounds. Levi Woods and Keevin Tyus scored 19 points apiece for the Lee men (10-18), Tyus with 11 rebounds, while Rico Overall had 16 points and Chase Cullen had 10 rebounds.
Football
‘ Former Chattanooga High School and UCLA football standout Tommy “Freight Train” Taylor died Sunday in LaFayette, Ga., and will be buried Sunday in Forest Hills Cemetery in Chattanooga.
The funeral service is set for 1 p.m. His body will lie in state at Taylor Funeral Home on Wilcox Boulevard after 1 p.m. Saturday. Taylor was an all-state running back and linebacker at City High and became the 1985 team captain at UCLA, which won the Rose Bowl against Iowa.
He was a first-team All-Pac 10 linebacker. He became a liaison for people with legal issues and had lived in Atlanta for several years, according to the funeral home release, but suffered a series of strokes in recent years. A fund started during his medical struggles can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/z6juzdm4.
Lacrosse
‘ The Sewanee women’s lacrosse team lost 18-9 at home Thursday night to Bates, which scored the first four goals and led 12-3 at halftime. All-America attacker Moriah Greenstein had three goals and seven assists for Bates. Reilly King led Sewanee (1-2) with three goals.